1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cell, and more particularly to a fuel cell apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Fuel cells, having advantages of high efficiency, low noise, and no pollution, are an energy technology following the trend of the age. Fuel cells can be divided into many types, in which proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are the common ones. For example, a fuel cell module of a direct methanol fuel cell includes a proton exchange membrane and a cathode and an anode respectively disposed at two sides of the proton exchange membrane.
The direct methanol fuel cell uses an aqueous methanol solution as fuel, and reaction formulae of the direct methanol fuel cell are expressed as follows.Anode: CH3OH+H2O→CO2+6H++6e−Cathode: 3/2O2+6H++6e−→3H2OOverall reaction: CH3OH+3/2O2→CO2+2H2O
It can be known from the above reaction formulae, when the direct methanol fuel cell reacts, a sufficient amount of oxygen gas (O2) must be provided to the cathode.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a convention fuel cell apparatus. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional fuel cell apparatus 100 includes a plurality of fuel cell modules 110, a plurality of ducts 120, and a plurality of blowers 130. Each of the blowers 130 has an outlet 132, and the ducts 120 are disposed in front of the outlets 132 of the blowers 130. Each of the ducts 120 has a splitter 122 therein to guide the airflow 50 to the two fuel cell modules 110, thus providing oxygen gas in the air to the cathodes of the fuel cell modules 110.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of another conventional fuel cell apparatus. Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional fuel cell apparatus 100′ includes a plurality of fuel cell modules 110, a plurality of ducts 120′, and a plurality of blowers 130. Each of the blowers 130 has an outlet 132, and the ducts 120′ are disposed in front of the outlets 132 of the blowers 130 to guide the airflow 50 provided by the blowers 130 to one fuel cell module 110, thus providing oxygen gas in the air to the cathode of the fuel cell module 110.
In the conventional fuel cell apparatuses 100, 100′, as the airflow 50 provided by the blowers 130 is non-uniform, and the ducts 120, 120′ are not designed for improving the non-uniformity of the airflow 50, the airflow 50 provided to the fuel cell modules 110 is non-uniform. Thus, oxygen gas cannot be uniformly provided to each position on the surface of the cathodes of the fuel cell modules 110, thus resulting in inconsistent reaction efficiencies of the fuel cell modules 110. Therefore, the reliability of the fuel cell apparatuses 100, 100′ is poor. Additionally, in the prior art, a plurality of blowers 130 are used to provide the airflow 50, so more electric power is consumed, which leads to poor output powers of the fuel cell apparatuses 100, 100′. Additionally, excessive blowers 130 generate high noise and leads to extremely large volumes of the fuel cell apparatuses 100, 100′.